Richard Moult – Rodorlihtung

“…an impressive development of a strong idea over time, showing how modulation and concentration can subtly alter the moods of a piece” – Ian Maleney reviews Richard Moult‘s first cassette on Fort Evil Fruit.

Rodorlihtung is Richard Moult‘s first solo tape for Fort Evil Fruit and sees the respected underground musician and erstwhile United Bible Studies member (it’s all so incestuous I hear you say) stretching out on three contemplative piano pieces cut.

‘Part One’ serves as a short introduction to the sounds used for the next half an hour; moody, rumbling piano, some bowed guitar, field recordings and ever-so-slightly-new-age keyboard emulations of flute and string sounds. ‘Part Two’ develops this palate into a roving landscape of textures and intertwined melodies, concerned most of all with the interaction of shadow and light with high notes and trills breaking through the fog as moonlight onto the Scottish coast which has so inspired this tape. The piano playing comes mostly in singular chords linked together over time, repeating and modulating, lulling the ears until you suddenly and unexpectedly find yourself in unfamiliar territory thanks to an immaculate key change or strong, momentary silence.

‘Part Three’ sees the idea unspooled to its full grandeur and melancholy, taking the classical doom idea to its fullest conclusion over 20 minutes. Beginning with quiet chords suspended in air, the piece eventually fills out its atmosphere into a dense mist of overlapping arpeggios. From here it thins out again and reshapes into something even starker and more terrifying than before, climbing slowly upwards towards into the ether. It is a mark of Moult’s ambition that the longest track here is also the more bare and reserved, concentrating on determined chord sequences with only the most ephemeral of accompaniments. Eventually all we’re left with is the croaking of birds and single, whispery notes that soon fade to nothing at all.

Rodorlihtung is an impressive development of a strong idea over time, showing how modulation and concentration can subtly alter the moods of a piece. It succeeds in its evocation of the Scottish coast at night, unknown and dangerous but not unwelcoming. As a tape it won’t blow minds but there is plenty to be enjoyed as you sink into the sounds of a cinematic journey into the mysterious north.